Chapter II

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

This chapter presents the conceptual and research literature that will help

the researchers to gather adequate information that plays a vital role with this

study.

Conceptual Literature

Musical intelligence is related to the identification of tones, melodies,

sounds, rhythm, and tempos, particularly, the sense of tone types, melody

composition, and sensitivity to sounds as well as using charts for music hearing

and understanding musical structure Gardner (2003).

Musical intelligence can be also identified by the following characteristics:

a disposition to music hearing and attraction to songs, a tendency to read music or

related topics, playing musical instruments, making musical compositions, writing

songs, recognizing consistent and inconsistent sounds, memorizing more songs

and melodies, self-singing while doing tasks, easily memorizing melodies,

listening to bird sounds, imitating sounds, and a desire to let others listen to the

person’s voice Afanan &Alkzindar (2004).

For some researchers, person who has musical intelligence has great chance

of mental development. A study by Vega and Prieto (2006) shows that the person

who has musical abilities such as playing one or more instruments result to brain’s

plasticity or development. Using multisensory in playing instrument gives an

active mind that can help other part of the brain to function well. Benefits such as
improvement in memory capacity, reading and comprehension level,

concentration, listening skills and confidence are just some of the result of musical

training claimed by many researchers.

Luiz (2007) said that there are several researchers who examined the

relationships between musical experiences, music learning, and academic

achievement. The majority of studies have found that the most significant

relationships are between music and mathematics, or to be more specific, between

music and spatial-temporal reasoning (important in mathematical concepts), and

music and performance in reading. With regard to the former relationship, the

assumption is based on a group of studies which explore the effects of learning to

play the keyboard on spatial-temporal reasoning, suggesting that mastering a

musical instrument helps one to develop an understanding of Mathematics.

Schellenberg (2006) says the recent study builds on work he published in

2004, in which 6-year-olds given a year of voice or piano lessons saw a

significantly larger increase in IQ than a control group that waited a year for

musical instruction. "There is dose-response association," says Schellenberg,

explaining that in general, the longer a child takes lessons, the higher the IQ

and the better the performance in school. Overall, the study found that taking

music lessons in childhood was a significant predictor of a higher IQ in young

adulthood and a history of better high school grades. For the younger children, the

study found a positive association between music lessons and higher school grades

and higher scores on achievement testing in mathematics, spelling and reading.

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 There are also studies about the effect of music to a person’s body. Jensen

(2001) reports that music reduces stress and enhances the function of the immune

system. Music can help children relax or can be used to excite. It affects the heart

rate, blood pressure, and improves blood flow and also has an effect on memory. It

develops the memory through melody and beat, and through its connection to the

emotions. Music can also improve coordination and the ability to listen and

respond

Knowing the intelligence like in music may affect the learning process of a

learner. Acat (2002) claimed that the definitions about the students’ MI fields

would be useful in determining the easier learning way. Besides, she emphasized

that by the information related to the MI fields of the students, one might use to

plan how he could understand himself/herself better, increase his/her awareness,

use his strong sides and develop his/her weak points.

Shearer (2004) said that if schools are to be led wisely into the new

millennium they need to be organized according to the most up-to-date and valid

‘facts’ about human intelligence. If academia is to educate future teachers and

school administrators effectively then theories assumed to be true for 100 years

need to be reconsidered in light of disconfirming perspectives and evidence.

As an addition, Traditional teaching and testing in schools has not been

broad in scope. Multiple intelligences provides a way for teachers to “expand the

repertoire of techniques, tools, and strategies beyond the typical linguistic and

logical ones predominately used in the U.S. classroom” Stanford (2003).

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 Research Literature

The researchers provided related researches to support the objective of this

study and to have wider perspective in this research.

The study of Bañez (2011) focusing on the multiple intelligences of college

students, which used a survey questionnaire as the main tool of data gathering

shows that remembering song lyrics is easy could be attributed to the fact that

music enhances memorization. According to Lynch (2011), music and poetry

when linked with learning, bring rhythm and often a rhyming pattern together to

create an atmosphere conducive to memorization. Learning combined with music

activates both the left and right sides of the brain, allowing the student to learn the

facts and connect those facts with a particular rhythm and tune. Thus, it is easy to

remember details when sang as people easily remember lyrics of a song.

Gogebakan (2003) conducted a descriptive correlational research entitled

“how students’ multiple intelligences differ in term of grade level and gender”.

The respondents of the study are 321 elementary students from first grade, third

grade, fifth grade and eight grade. He examined the effect of the gender and grade

level on students’ Multiple Intelligences mean, standard deviation and MANOVA

were used. Results showed that students multiple intelligences showed variety

according to their grade levels. For example, the students at the first grade level

demonstrated strong preference for linguistic intelligence and logical-

mathematical intelligence in the first grade and the two intelligences were

followed by spatial intelligence, and bodily kinesthetic intelligence. While the

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third grade students’ most dominant intelligences preferences were interpersonal,

spatial, logical-mathematical, and linguistic intelligence the fifth and eighth grade

students’ preferences were interpersonal intelligence bodily-kinesthetic

intelligence, musical intelligence, and spatial intelligence. When results are

examined in terms of gender, it can be said that the male students’ logical-

mathematical and bodily kinesthetic intelligence mean scores were higher than

female students’ whereas the female students’ musical intelligence mean score

was higher than male students’.

Perez (2006) conducted a correlational research about the multiple

intelligence and its effect to the academic performance of Grade III pupils. She

utilized 60 randomly pupils as respondents, using questionnaires to assess the two

variables. The study resulted to non-significance between the two variables but

there is variation in improvement to their academic performance in different

subjects. The suggestion of the research is to integrate the multiple intelligence in

the teaching process.

“The Impact of music education and athletic participation on academic

achievement” is the correlational study of Schneider & Klotz (2000) which

examined the relationship between enrolment in music performance classes and

athletic extracurricular activities on academic achievement. Three hundred forty

six subjects were divided into three groups: musicians (band or choir), athletes, or

non-participants. All three groups were statistically equivalent in fifth and sixth

grade. During seventh, eighth, and ninth grades the musicians achieved

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significantly higher academic achievement scores than the athletes but did not

score higher than the non-participants. The authors noted that the musicians

showed a tendency to maintain stabilized scores while the athletes and non-

participants groups’ scores dropped.

Whitehead (2001) examined the effect of music instruction (Orff-

Schulwerk) on math scores of middle and high school students. Subjects were

randomly placed into three groups: full treatment (which received music

instruction for 50 minutes five times per week), limited treatment (which received

50 minutes of instruction once a week), and no treatment (which received no

music instruction). After twenty weeks, the full treatment group showed a higher

level of significant gain in mathematics than the other two groups. The limited

treatment group showed limited mathematics improvement and the no treatment

group had the lowest gain in mathematics improvement.

In the experimental study of Haley (2001),”The relationship between

instrumental music instruction and academic achievement in fourth grade

students”, he investigated the effects of participating in an instrumental music

program (band or orchestra) on the academic achievement of fourth-grade

children. The children were placed into three groups: Group A consisted of

children who had studied an instrument prior to the introduction of band and

orchestra in fourth grade; Group B consisted of children just beginning to study an

instrument; and Group C consisted of children with no experience in instrumental

instruction. Data indicated that students who had studied an instrument prior to

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fourth grade had higher scores in mathematics achievement than did students in

the other groups.

In the study of Bowles (2003), “The effect of orchestrating music as a reading”, he

chose 66 elementary students enrolled in art school as respondents to examine the

effect of the enhanced music curriculum to their reading achievement. After

twelve weeks, he found out that enhanced music curriculum did not improve the

reading achievement of the respondents.

Synthesis

This presents an overview of the similarities and differences of the present

study to the above – mentioned studies.

In connection to the type of respondents used by the researchers most of

them used elementary students and some are highschool students as the

participants of the studies. Specifically study of Bowles, Gogebakan, Haley,

Whitehead and Perez used elementary respondents while the study of Whitehead,

Schneider and Klots made used of highschool students that makes this study

different to aforementioned study. However it is still similar to their study as they

assess the academic performance of the respondents.

In addition the study of Gogebakan included gender in the profile of

respondents which is also similar to the present study.

In comparison to the study of Bañez, Gogebakan, Perez, Schneider and

Klots which used a survey questionnaire found similar to the present study.

However it is still different from the aforementioned studies as the present study

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adopt the multiple intelligences focusing on music survey questionnaire by

Gardner.

The study of Gogebakan used Standard deviation and MANOVA to

determine the relationship between the variables. This study used Chi – square in

to determine if significant relationship exist among the variables.

This study used the descriptive correlation method of research which is the

same to the studies of Gogebakan, Perez, Schneider and Klotz as they utilized the

same method of research. However the present study seems to be different from

the study of Bowles, Haley and Whitehead as they used the experimental approach

of research.

Conceptual Framework

Intelligence consider as both nature and nurtured manifest a complex idea.

The success that a student learned is not solely depends on the capabilities of the

teacher but also with the innate intelligence that a student has.

Musical intelligence as the ability to compose songs and music, sing and

play instruments and the ability of appreciation of all kinds of music might be a

weapon of increasing the student level of academic performance.

Having this in mind, the researchers conceptualized this study. The aim of

finding the musical intelligence and academic performance is the main purpose of

this undertakings. Their relationship to the personal profile of the respondents will

also be assess.

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 The researchers will use the Input – Process – Output model to show the

interrelationship of the variables. The relationship illustrated on the paradigm

shown in figure 1 is base from the idea that the respondents’ musical intelligence

and academic performance are related to their profile. After determining if

significant relationship exist a course of action will be suggested by the

researchers to the education department of Batangas State University Malvar.

INPUTPROCESS OUTPUT
Education Students of Correlation analysis The course of action to
Batangas State between the profile of be proposed to the
University Malvar the respondents and education department of
Campus; their musical Batangas State
Profile: intelligence and University Malvar
sex v between their musical Campus.
year level intelligence and
course academic performance
field of specialization
Musical Intelligence
Academic Performance

Figure. 1

Paradigm of the Study

The researchers will use the Input, Process, output model to describe the

flow of the study. The first box shows the input of the study; this contains the

profile of the respondents in terms of sex, year level, course and field of

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specification. The first box also include the assessment and determination of the

level of musical intelligence and academic performance of the respondents.

The arrow pointing to the next box connects the input to the process. The

process leads to the analysis between the profile of the respondents and their

musical intelligence and between their musical intelligence and academic

performance. The chi – square will be used to this purpose.

The second arrow is pointed to the third box which is the output of the

study; suggested course of action will be proposed to the education department of

Batangas State University Malvar Campus after analysis and interpretation of data.

Hypothesis

The researchers will test the hypothesis of the study in its null form.

There is no significant relationship between the respondents’ profile and

musical intelligence. There is no significant relationship between the respondents’

musical intelligence and their academic performance.

Definition of Terms

For further understanding of this study, the following terms are defined

conceptually and operationally.

Musical Intelligence. The ability to compose songs and music, sing and

play instruments and appreciate all kinds of music. Having a strong sense of

universal harmony and awareness of patterns in life. 

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 Academic Performance. Academic achievement or academic performance

is the outcome of education. The extent to which a student, teacher or institution

has achieved their educational goals.

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